unts during that scene.Following an atypical turn as a ne¿er-do-well farmhand in the coming-of-age family drama, "The Reivers" (1969), McQueen was perfectly cast as a champion race car driver with a dark past in the racing adventure "Le Mans" (1971), which failed to attract an audience upon its theatrical release, but gathered a cult following throughout the years. Once again, McQueen was behind the wheel for many of the film¿s driving sequences. He kept riding high and fast as one of Hollywood¿s most popular stars with Sam Peckinpah¿s excellent crime thriller, "The Getaway" (1972), a big box office smash about husband and wife criminals (McQueen and Ali McGraw) who are double-crossed following a heist by a scheming politician (Ben Johnson). Aside from its financial success, "The Getaway" became notorious for McQueen effectively stealing away McGraw from her husband, famed producer Robert Evans, during production. By this time, McQueen divorced his first wife, Neile Adams, and married McGraw in 1973, only to file for divorce four years later. Meanwhile, he delivered an inspiring performance in "Papillon" (1973), playing real-life convict, Henri Charrière, who became famous for becoming the only...

unts during that scene.

Following an atypical turn as a ne¿er-do-well farmhand in the coming-of-age family drama, "The Reivers" (1969), McQueen was perfectly cast as a champion race car driver with a dark past in the racing adventure "Le Mans" (1971), which failed to attract an audience upon its theatrical release, but gathered a cult following throughout the years. Once again, McQueen was behind the wheel for many of the film¿s driving sequences. He kept riding high and fast as one of Hollywood¿s most popular stars with Sam Peckinpah¿s excellent crime thriller, "The Getaway" (1972), a big box office smash about husband and wife criminals (McQueen and Ali McGraw) who are double-crossed following a heist by a scheming politician (Ben Johnson). Aside from its financial success, "The Getaway" became notorious for McQueen effectively stealing away McGraw from her husband, famed producer Robert Evans, during production. By this time, McQueen divorced his first wife, Neile Adams, and married McGraw in 1973, only to file for divorce four years later. Meanwhile, he delivered an inspiring performance in "Papillon" (1973), playing real-life convict, Henri Charrière, who became famous for becoming the only person to escape from the hard labor camp, Devil¿s Island, off the coast of French Guiana.

Throughout his career, McQueen pursued auto and motorcycle racing with the same exuberance as he had for acting. In the 12 Hours of Sebring Race of 1970, the actor and Peter Revson won in their class, losing only by a few seconds to Mario Andretti with a Porsche 908/02. It was the same car that was used as a camera car in the film "Le Mans." The actor also competed in off-road motorcycle racing, often entering competitions under the pseudonym Harvey Mushman. McQueen raced in high-profile, off-road races during the 1960s and 1970s, including the Baja 1000, the Mint 400, and the Elsinore Grand Prix. He represented the United States in the International Six Days Trial in 1964 and was inducted in the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1978. Meanwhile, after "Papillon," he joined an all-star cast for the mother of all 1970s disaster movies, "The Towering Inferno" (1974), which also starred Paul Newman, Fred Astaire, Faye Dunaway, Richard Chamberlain and William Holden all trapped in a fire in the world¿s tallest skyscraper. After that, McQueen largely disappeared from the movies, showing up for "An Enemy of the People" (1978), "Tom Horn" (1980) and "The Hunter" (1980); the latter considered to be one of his worst.

In January 1980, he married model Barbara Minty. While McQueen appeared ready for a comeback, his health was actually deteriorating unbeknownst to the public. He had been diagnosed with mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer brought on by exposure to asbestos which he traced back to his days in the U.S. Marines. McQueen traveled to Juarez, Mexico, seeking unconventional treatment against his doctors' advice. He later had an operation to remove a large tumor that doctors said would trigger cardiac arrest. That turned out to be the case and he died on Nov. 7, 1980 at only 50 years old. His body was cremated and his ashes were spread in the Pacific Ocean. In 1999, McQueen was posthumously inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame. His legacy only grew following his death, as McQueen¿s estate became one of the highest grossing for deceased celebrities. In 2002, singer Sheryl Crow recorded the hit song "Steve McQueen," while three years later, Ford Motor Company used his ultra-cool likeness in a commercial via a body double for their new Mustang.th his mother, who was by then living in Greenwich Village, only to leave almost immediately to join the Merchant Marines. However, he abandoned that job and found his way to Texas, where he drifted in and out of jobs, working on an oil rig, at a carnival, and as a lumberjack.

Following his life as a drifter, McQueen joined the United States Marine Corps in 1947, only to find himself running afoul against authority once again when he landed in the brig for failing to return on time from a weekend pass. After serving three years as a tank driver, he received his honorable discharge and again returned to New York, where he worked a series of odd jobs before looking into acting at a friend¿s suggestion. With his G.I. Bill money, McQueen joined The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in 1951 and learned his craft from master Sanford Meisner. He made a number of appearances in off-Broadway productions before making his debut on Broadway in the play "A Hatful of Rain" (1955). The following year, he made his film debut with a bit part in "Somebody Up There Likes Me" (1956), starring Paul Newman, as well as in a variety of television guest appearances. In 1956, McQueen married Manila-born actress Neile Adams, with whom he had a daughter, Terry, and a son, Chad. Meanwhile, his career picked up steam with his first leading role, playing a teenager who does battle with a giant mass of goop terrorizing a small town in "The Blob" (1958).

In 1958, McQueen portrayed the character of bounty hunter Josh Randall so perfectly in an episode of the Western series, "Trackdown" (CBS, 1957-59), that it led him to his breakout role on his own series, "Wanted: Dead or Alive" (CBS, 1958-1961), in which he played a former Confederate soldier and bounty hunter who nonetheless has a heart. McQueen made 94 episodes until early 1961, when he withdrew from the series to focus his energy on a budding film career. Frank Sinatra gave the then 29-year-old his first big break in the film "Never So Few" (1959), after the crooner yanked the part from pal Sammy Davis, Jr., after being criticized by him during a radio interview. McQueen's character, Bill Ringa, epitomized the roles he would later play in almost all of his movies: cool, understated and extremely at ease behind the wheel of a fast-moving vehicle. McQueen next had his first major hit, "The Magnificent Seven" (1960), which cast him alongside Yul Brynner, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn and James Coburn as one of seven gunslingers hired by a Mexican farming village to stop it from being pillaged by a vicious bandit (Eli Wallach) and his gang. Closely modeled on Akira Kurosawa¿s "Seven Samurai" (1954), the Western was a big success that spawned three sequels and later a television series.

McQueen¿s star kept rising, thanks to a number of blockbuster hits such as "The Great Escape" (1963), an action-packed World War II movie that showcased one of the most memorable motorcycle leaps seen onscreen during the film¿s climax. McQueen, an accomplished motorcyclist, performed many of the daredevil stunts in the movie, but due to insurance purposes, was not allowed to perform the final scene. Instead, his friend and fellow motorcyclist, Bud Elkins, made the actual jump. Around this time, McQueen was one of the world's highest-paid actors, despite his rumored belligerent attitude with movie executives. He starred as the titular character in "The Cincinnati Kid" (1965), playing a professional poker player who steps into the big time when he challenges reigning champ, The Man (Edward G. Robinson), to a private game. After starring as "Nevada Smith" (1966), McQueen received his one and only Oscar nomination for his role in "The Sand Pebbles" (1966), playing a Navy engine room sailor whose ship gets caught up in China¿s civil war in 1926. Absent from the screen for two years, he returned with two iconic performances. First he was a bored millionaire who lives life on the edge robbing banks in "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1968), followed by an authority-despising cop detective on the hunt for the assassin of a state¿s witness in "Bullitt" (1968), which featured a nearly 10-minute car chase through the streets of San Francisco that many critics and film buffs have cited as the greatest ever captured on film. As an avid racer himself, McQueen performed much of the driving aside from the most dangerous st

Starred in Arthur Miller's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People" (directed by George Schaefer); film sat on shelf for years and received only limited distribution

1979:

First disgnosed with cancer caused by exposure to asbestos

:

Sick with cancer, made his final two films, "Tom Horn" (bad) and "The Hunter" (perhaps his worst movie), playing a bounty hunter in each

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Education

Boys Republic Reform School:
Chino , California - 1945 - 1946

The Neigborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre:
New York , New York - 1951

Notes

McQueen was reportedly on the Manson family's hit list. In a twist of fate, he was supposed to have dinner with Sharon Tate on the night she was murdered but met a young woman with whom he decided to have a one-night stand.

"One afternoon on location...I was sitting there reading my script...and Frank crept up behind me and slipped a lighted firecracker in one of the loops of my gunbelt. When that thing went off I jumped about three feet straight up. Which naturally delighted Frank. So I grabbed one of the Tommy guns we were using in the film and jammed in a full clip--fifty rounds. Sinatra was walking away laughing it up with his buddies, when I yelled at him, 'Hey, Frank!' He turned around and I let him have it, zap-zap-zap-zap, the whole clip." Blanks fired at close range can be quite painful and the whole set fell quiet while waiting to see what Sinatra's reaction would be. As McQueen stood there staring at Sinatra, the star, ".., just started laughing, and it was all over. After that, we got along fine. In fact, we tossed firecrackers at each other through the picture." --Steve McQueen on filming "Never So Few" in William F Nolan's biography "McQueen"

Neile Adams. Actor, dancer, singer. Born c. 1934; introduced to McQueen by mutual friend Mark Rydell whom she had dated; appeared on Broadway in "Pajama Game"; married in November 1956; assisted McQueen in choosing scripts during their marriage; reportedly McQueen turned abusive in the early 1970s while overindulging in drugs and alcohol; separated in 1971 divorced in 1972; mother of McQueen's two children; married Alvin E Toffel in 1980.

William McQueen. Naval aviator. Abandoned McQueen's mother; died in 1959; McQueen attempted to locate his father but found his widow three months after father's death.

mother:

Jullian Crawford Berri. Born in 1910; alcoholic; married at least one other time after divorced from McQueen's father; left son in care of her uncle and mother; died on October 15, 1965.

daughter:

Terry Leslie McQueen. Executive. Headed a film production company; born on June 5, 1959; died on March 12, 1998 of respiratory failure at age 38; mother, Neile Adams; survived by a daughter Molly, born c. 1987.